An extension of the Common Sense Journalism monthly column by Doug Fisher, former broadcaster, newspaper reporter and wire service editor. From new media to old, much of journalism is just plain common sense."In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Unknown (often improperly attributed to Thomas Jefferson)
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius" - George Bernard Shaw

If nothing else, ya gotta love the graphic (nice use of metaphor and symbolism with that box there).

Among all the bluff and bluster are some references to AP's lack of a "home" news site (as opposed to the corporate site), largely ascribed to its members' desires to keep any traffic to AP copy on their own sites.

3 Comments:

Doug,Unless they changed their model since I was a client - and they may well have - that "hosted" site is a service for newspaper clients. The paper's site points to AP's hosted site for national and international news; the AP sells the ads but as I remember - and I'm not sure about this - it shares revenue or avails with the member site. I think that if you come to it through a member site, you get member branding. Or at least it was something like that back in the day. AP later updated its products so member sites could put modules of such content on their own sites rather than having to point to the AP's.

My point is that you're right in the end, the members still don't allow the AP to build a strong consumer brand and ad presence that would enable the AP to exploit the advantages of the link economy.

Yes, it is on the "hosted" server. I just wanted to point out, however, that it is possible to go around the member branding and direct to the non-branded site (and the RSS feeds).

AP's had that up as a little experiment (I'm told) for some time, possibly trying to figure out if an "AP.com" would work - or at least to have it ready should the AP decide going on its own was the way..

Yes, I do coaching and consulting. That is the only shameless commerce you'll get from me here. Go to the bottom of the blog for more details.
Who am I: A longtime print and broadcast reporter/editor/producer and then AP news editor who now professes journalism at the University of South Carolina. (But please note, nothing on this blog represents official university policy or sentiment. If it did, I'd be very concerned.)My point: That journalism is a great occupation, that most journalism is common sense and that our problems arise when we sometimes don't use it.What's covered: My interests center on editing and writing and on editors and the challenges they face in a changing environment. I'm convinced editors are not being trained enough to face these challenges, but that common sense rules the day. I'm heavily involved in Newsplex, the new-media newsroom at the University of South Carolina. But my interests are wide-ranging, so anything, from ethics to some aspects of Web design, is fair game.
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Common Sense Journalism &nbspYes, I do seminars and consulting. Among those I have worked with are the SNPA Traveling Campus, S.C. Press Association, N.Y. Press Association, Georgia Press Association, Mississippi Press Association, Virginia Press Association, Landmark Community Newspapers, American Copy Editors Society, Society of Professional Journalists, Lancaster (S.C.) News, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald, The (Sumter, S.C.) Item, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. Contact me for more information.